Spring 2016 Concert: Bryson Tiller

Students who only knew around three of Bryson Tiller’s songs were the same individuals who sat down at the show on Saturday night, said Rebecca Gaujon, sophomore. Still, she said Bryson Tiller’s performance reflected him as an upcoming of the famous rapper, Drake.

“Some people said they would have preferred a more mainstream artist but I had a great time,” said Gaujon. “I felt bad knowing Bryson probably caught onto the various humdrum moments of the night.”

Riley Scheuritzel, freshman journalism major, said the show made him excited for his forthcoming years at the university. He said it was not his kind of music but he was still willing to shed out $35 to buy a ticket off of another student.

“I have to admit that I grew respect for Bryson throughout the show,” said Scheuritzel, “he has great stage presence.”

Miriame Clement, senior public health major, said she was pleased with the entire setup of the show. She said that this was the best spring concert she had attended in comparison to the previous years where artists like Ace Hood and Sage the Gemini performed.

“I thought that the crowd had great energy,” said Clement. “The light effects made the show come alive like magic.”

Clement said the only thing she could understand students being displeased with was the massive line to get into the Lyman Center that evening.

“I had to wait an hour to get in,” said Clement. “It still wasn’t that big of a deal though. I thought it was cool how the first 150 people were admitted wristbands to create a pit in the front of the stage”

The massive ticket sales, the massive crowd, the massive amount of support from SCSU committees essentially brought forward the priceless reaction from students who attended the concert, said Eric LaCharity, associate director of student involvement.

“The reaction this year was mind blowing,” said LaCharity. “Just in October our special events and resident life teams were pitching ideas about who could perform. After Bryson Tiller was revealed as the headliner of the spring concert 4,100 tickets were sold out within five days.”

LaCharity said he received a lot of complaints about the concert being held inside compared to previous years where it was taken outside. He said based on Tiller’s rookie status in the media industry that committees did not expect the event to blow up the way it did.

“Of course committee staff members want to cater to all students,” said LaCharity. “But there were certain conditions that were already put in place on terms of the setup of the stage and timeframe. Not to mention that the cost of an outdoor show is significantly higher.”

LaCharity said concert attendees had a common tendency: mellow vibes.

“I’m especially happy that the crowd was filled with a majority of SCSU students and that not too many tickets traveled outside of campus,” said LaCharity. “It was also great that Tiller remained committed to his part of the deal of performing a full hour unlike past artists we’ve featured.”

A Gallup Youth Survey found through telephone interviews that were made in the timeframe of four months in 2000 with a national cross section of 501 teenagers said that the youth has altered their preferences based on inflated ticket prices.

According to Gallup’s source of Alan B. Kreuger, professor of economics at Princeton University and Economic perspectives, concert prices have increased by 54 percent in between 1996 to 2001.

The study said that there has been a decline since 1976 in the number of teens who said they have attended a concert in the past year. In 1976, four in 10 American teens said they attended a concert. In 2000, the attendance had dropped off to 31 percent.

Nadia Dallas, freshman, said she had higher expectations for the show when she purchased her overpriced ticket from an outside source. She thought that Bryson was good but she was displeased with security.

“I know that they were just doing their job when they commanded for me to get off from standing on the chairs,” said Dallas. “But I found it excessive how they tried to kick me out of the section altogether. I paid good money to see Bryson as is and now I was being prosecuted because I couldn’t see. It was kind of ridiculous.”

Dallas also said that most of her peers did not want to attend because Bryson Tiller had just performed at Toad’s Place in downtown New Haven only a few months before. She said that she noticed how individuals at the show were expecting more accelerated anthems from Tiller and were clearly unaware that most of his tracks are more relaxed.

“I know all of Bryson’s songs so I had a chill time but I was disappointed in the crowd’s reaction at times,” said Dallas. “It can be depressing when more than half of the crowd isn’t vibing out with the artist like they should be.”

Dallas said that in her future years at she hopes to see more top-leveled artists perform at SCSU.

“Don’t get me wrong though, I still had a great time,” said Dallas. “Regardless of the crowd’s reaction I think Bryson did a good job at keeping his own energy upbeat. I also have to say that the amount of effort that was put into producing the show paid off and made me proud to attend this school.”